From analysing the vehicle check data, My Car Check pulled out some impressive stats, which showed, even though the car had an expensive price tag, there was no guarantee the vehicle will have a clean history.

Compared to Ford, BMW had a 21% more chance of a risk warning, these models included the following:

M3

320D SE

118D M Sport

The second make which had the highest percentage of warning, after BMW was Audi. When looking at warnings, it can vary which type it is, for example, some models might show up with a written-off warning and others may still have outstanding finance. Therefore, it is advised by My Car check to always check the vehicle history before buying a car

Here are the top five UK car make models with the highest percentage of risk warning:

5. Ford (37% with warning)

Top 3 models:

Fiesta Zetec

Fiesta Zetec Climate

Fiesta Style

Average value- £4,442

4. Vauxhall (38% with warning)

Top 3 models:

Corsa SXI

Astra SXI

Corsa SXI A/C

Average value- £4,761

3. VW (38% with warning)

Top 3 models:

Golf GT TDI

Golf GTI

Golf S

Average value- £7,252

2. Audi (53% with warning)

Top 3 models:

A3 Sport TDI

TT Quattro 225

A3 SE TDI

Average value- £12,247

1. BMW (58% with warning)

Top 3 models:

M3

320D SE

118D M Sport

Average value- £15,358

Price doesn’t guarantee safety

Gavin Amos, head of valuation services at mycarcheck.com, says: “People presume that more expensive cars must be a safer bet, but our data busts this myth. They can actually be much higher risk, for example, for outstanding finance or plate transfer.Price doesn’t guarantee safety

Whether you’re spending a few hundred pounds or tens of thousands, investing a tiny percentage of that to check if it is stolen, previously written-off or has debt against it is surely a no-brainer?”

My Car Check has two categories of warning: serious and advisory. 28.5% of all vehicles checked on mycarcheck.com in 2016 had at least one serious warning against them. This is up from 25.6% in 2015. 23.8% of all vehicles checked on mycarcheck.com in 2016 had at least one advisory warning against them. This is down from 30.8% in 2015.